Oh baby! Have we got a lot to share about dogs and babies. This blog is written by Certified Professional Dog Trainer Jenn Merritt and her dog Royal. Jenn specializes in helping expectant pet parents and pet parents with new babies adapt to life with their dogs. Royal specializes in squirrel investigation, attempted motorcycle herding, and sleeping belly up.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Calming Face Wrap-The Bunny Test

Jenn's been doing some interesting experiments on me using a Tellington TTouch Method face wrap. I get really excited on our walks and I like to bark. It feels good to bark, and barking helps me release tension when I feel excited-looking at deer and bunnies especially. But Jenn doesn't want me waking up the neighbors on our early morning walks. So, she thought a face wrap might be worth trying to reduce my barkiness on walks. A face wrap looks like this:It is a soft piece of fabric or elastic that goes in a figure eight around my face. It is not tight or restrictive, it just sits on my face and feels stretchy when I open my mouth, not unlike the sensation that I feel when I where my Halti headharness. A face wrap is used to release tension in the face, mouth, and muzzle. Jenn puts in on and feeds me treats so I don't mind it, then we step out the door for our walk. So the real test for me is seeing a bunny. Jenn took me out this morning and here I am looking at a bunny:So the interesting thing is that I'm just looking at the bunny. Not spinning or barking of pulling. Here's another picture. Can you see the bunny sitting in front of the rock?And there I am quiet as a church mouse. The face wrap relieves the tension in my face, so I don't feel the need to bark as much. Cool. Face wraps can also be helpful for dogs that whine, puppies that are teething and mouthy, and fearful or anxious dogs too. A face wrap can be calming, just like a body wrap, but really targets issues going on around the mouth. Jenn's writing an article for the next issue of the APDT Chronicle of the Dog about face wraps and mouthwork. You can check out Jenn's other articles about the TTouch Method here.

1 comment:

Royal, I wanted to let you know we love following your blog and we have nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award http://urbancanines.blogspot.com/2010/08/versatile-blogger-award-thanks-murphy.html . See our post today for details and thank you for posting such wonderful blog entries.